Marquette has been one of the toughest teams to beat in the Big East throughout the conference schedule. However, after a disappointing loss to University of South Florida it has become all too apparent to Marquette that there are no easy games in the Big East. At 9-1 in the Big East the prevailing opinion should be that Marquette is still in good position as far as the conference is concerned, but for any Marquette fan this game against Villanova was a must win.
Villanova has seen their Big East fortunes completely reversed after starting just 2-3 in the conference. The Wildcats have pulled off a convincing five game winning streak and find themselves looking to make it six and put themselves only two games behind first place University of Connecticut. With all these huge factors leading into Tuesday’s game there was no doubt that this was a game no true basketball fan would want to miss.
In a game that was as important as it was offensive, Marquette unfortunately could not pull off the needed win. Villanova just seemed unable to miss a shot in their offensive showcase against Marquette Tuesday, and although the Golden Eagles started off hot enough to stay ahead of Villanova they just could not score as much or as often against the Wildcats. The guard-oriented Golden Eagles were beat at their own game against the red-hot Wildcats who scored 100 points in consecutive Big East games for the first time in school history. They were able to utilize Marquette’s lack of depth as the game wore on and that depth allowed them to quell every potential run Marquette tried to string together.
Both teams were lighting up the boards offensively with each team shooting over 50 percent. But in every area that Marquette excelled, Villanova simply excelled more. Marquette shot 51 percent but Villanova shot 58, including 72 percent in the second half. Marquette hit 47 percent of their three balls but Villanova shot an insane 54 percent. It just seemed that when the Wildcats decided they wanted to score they would make a three pointer or drive in the lane and drop an easy two. The man behind the Wildcat’s scoring blaze was junior guard Scottie Reynolds who erupted on the Golden Eagles for 27 points, which included five three pointers. Marquette answered with 23 from McNeal – giving him the all-time Marquette scoring title – and with 22 from Lazar Hayward who was on fire early but cooled off significantly in the second half.
Villanova simply just kept the Golden Eagles at bay throughout the entire second half and kept them from ever getting closer than their five point halftime deficit. In the end it resulted in Villanova pulling away with a convincing 18-point victory and their sixth straight Big East win. Marquette looked poised to close the gap several times in the second half including back to back slam-dunks by James and McNeal, but Villanova would just hand the ball to Reynolds who would stroke a three without hesitation.
Offensively Marquette had a great game, and if it was any other shooting night for any other team, they would probably have walked away with a solid victory. However, when a team is as zoned into the basket as Villanova was on Tuesday, it takes an enormous defensive effort to stay in the game and the Marquette guards just did not seem up to the task.
There was one proud moment for Marquette. The Golden Eagles now have a new all-time leading scorer. McNeal, who started off the game shaky (started 1-7 for 3 pointers), rebounded well and was able to score 23 points which surpassed George Thompson’s 40-year-old record and now has 1,776 career points.
The Golden Eagles look to bounce back from this disappointing loss on Saturday against the bottom-feeding Red Storm of St. John’s at the Bradley Center.
This loss obviously hurts for any Marquette fan but the Golden Eagles need to get past it and seize the home stand before they run head on into the hardest part of their schedule.
Popularity: 8% [?]
